


Destruction of a family in the Anti-Matter World

by TFALokiwriter



Category: Lost in Space (TV 1965)
Genre: Death Threats, Gen, Insults, Minor Violence, Pre-Canon, Pre-Episode: s03e15 The Anti-Matter Man, Sexism, Sibling Rivalry, The Anti-Matter Robinsons (Lost in Space: The Anti-Matter Man), The Anti-Matter World (Lost in Space: The Anti-Matter Man), Threats, Tragedy, Whatever happened to the Anti-Matter Robinsons?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: How it fell down to John and Drun, a red twirling alien in the cave, Robot in a cage, in The Anti-Matter World.
Kudos: 2





	1. A ordinary miserable afternoon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SpaceLost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceLost/gifts).



"I wish we still had the Jupiter 2.”

Will sighed, his arms wrapped around his legs, as his shoulders sulked set against a boulder while he were seated staring on toward the darkness of the planet that he was forced to call home. He was a far cry from the optimistic ten year old that had eagerly gone out with his parents, his siblings, and the major but a miserable and hopeless thirteen year old boy that aged quite very slowly and hadn't yet got the chance to experience puberty.

“I WiSh wE sTiLL hAd tHe JuPiTeR 2!” His older sister, Penny, mocked.

Will bobbed his head up with a scowl.

“Hey!” Will exclaimed.

Penny was the one who was standing on her feet with her hands on her hips.

“That’s all you do, wish, wish, wish!” Penny emphasized.

“I do _not_ wish all the time!” Will protested.

Penny turned her attention on toward the older man between them on the boulder above Will.

“Doctor Smith, don’t you agree?”

Smith looked on toward the distance playing with a pebble as he sat on a boulder across from Penny Robinson and Will Robinson then chucked it over with a sigh paying little attention to the bickering children under his care.

“See?" Will got up to his feet. "He doesn’t even care about the Jupiter 2 like I do, like you do, he just wishes he were home---”

“Which isn’t often.” Penny said. "Hardly ever voices a wish to go there unlike someone I know."

“Some days, I wonder why he doesn’t miss it.” Will said.

“Because Earth is a trash shoot.” Penny reminded. "You saw how the clouds were dark, how the oceans were polluted, how the summers are awful with sun rays poking through the ozone layer destroying cities at a time and vaporizing people! Who would want to go back to that?"

"I can." Will said. "Me, for starters."

"You're a nut case, a pure, delinquent--" Penny shrieked as Will tugged her hair. “Stop pulling my hair!”

“Then take that back!” Will shot back and Penny yanked his ear.

"I am going to rip your scalp off!"

Penny turned toward the older man with a screech as he tugged at her hair.

“Children, now is not the time to argue about mere simple matters.”

Smith cut off the children as he got in between them and yanked them apart as Will and Penny viciously struggled to lash out at each other while Smith casually had his hands on their heads as though it were a normal evening.

"They are over with, they’re gone, there is nothing that we can salvage into a warm, cozy, gray, lovely ship that takes us far away as possible along with our jailer and . . .” he looked around as his grip on Will's hair loosened and squinted toward the area around them. “Hm, where could that smart alec be?”

Will stormed off.

“I’ll find him!” Will announced as he grumbled to himself. "And give him a piece of my mind leaving me with _her_."

"William, would you like some company?" Smith offered. "There may be another visitor of this planet concealing him quite armed."

"It _would_ make a nice adventure playing hide and seek with Robot." Penny giggled, a far precious but rare sound, that was fond.

"I am a grown up, Doctor Smith, Penny!" Will replied. "I don’t need a stupid woman or a too good idiot old man to help me find a six foot tall conquering machine. Not a kid anymore and he knows that! Grown ups don't play neither do machines like Robot!"

The words hurt into the old man's heart just as the other words had the first time around; it never stopped hurting. Smith put a hand on Penny's shoulder keeping her from running after the boy and punching him at the face as she had done numerous times when his words hit a nerve. The pain was easy to live it, easy to forgive, but there was always pain from the boy's insults. The boy was cocky, arrogant, after almost thousands of lifetimes living on a prison planet which made it easy to tell apart what was different about the environment since he knew every inch of it. And the mean streak had only been enhanced by this arrogance.

"I am not a stupid woman, man!" Penny shot back.

“Make sure that he returns in one piece, William!” Smith called.

“Or wish that he were in one piece!” Penny said then roared with laughter.

“Penelope, that is uncalled for." Smith chastised the young Robinson beside him. "A lady does not burn a bridge with someone who can be instrumental in her survival, including a gentlemen, a God, a entity, a decent machine. . . ."


	2. A moment before lovers

Judy was a young woman in her early twenties looking on toward the dark landscape of the planet with her hands on her arms looking on away from the entrance of the cavern. Her black and white checkered uniform were similar to the major except for the short skirt, the lack of sleeves, and black gloves that seemed more fitting for a prisoner instead of a free young woman. Her once optimistic blue eyes were dark with uncertainty, misery, and hopelessness. The smile that she had once were replaced by a frown as she leaned against the frame of the cavern. 

“Drun, don’t you wish we could see a blue sky?”

Drun joined her side as he looked on toward the sky with his hands on his hips.

“I can’t remember when I had seen a blue sky.” Drun said.

“I can.” Judy said.

Drun looked down toward Judy.

“What was it like? The color blue?" Drun asked. "Was it bright? Was it dark?”

“It was welcoming. It was stable. It was always there.” She looked up toward the dark gloomy sky. “It was kind.”

Drun looked on toward the young woman with a smile.

“How did it feel?” Drun prodded even further.

Judy turned toward Drun then took his hand.

“Some days, it felt like my hand does, being beneath it.” Judy said. “Before it took a crap shoot. Before we had to go and trail blaze a way for other people to reach it.”

“Already got there by now.” Drun said. “Do you think they remember us?”

“Barely by now.” Judy set her arms on his shoulders. “Myths by now. Just like the light world.”

“I remember that we left.” Drun protested. “I remember how we got here.”

“How did we ever get here?” Judy asked.

“The ship went off course thanks to Smith staying aboard, tried to change course by waking me up, I disarmed him, put the ship back on course, then woke everyone up, and Robot came on. . . As I recall, we had to halt him from killing us all and had to jump into Hyper Drive which is when we came across that governmental ship where we ended up killing every single inferior life form there was and were promptly apprehended.“

Judy was the one who engaged on the kiss with the older man as Drun’s arms were wrapped around her waist and his back hit the wall of a rock. She clenched a handful of his uniform as she briefly smiled when her arms had retreated from his shoulders down to his waist. Drun resumed the kiss, cupping the side of her cheek, as she leaned into it. She briefly moaned during the kiss then withdrew from his grasp.

"Drun, how about we carry this elsewhere?" Judy offered.

Drun looked on toward the interior of the cave that was full of cages and improvised survival gear including the survival gear left behind by the authorities when they had begun their eternal imprisonment here. Drun grimaced at the last pieces of the Jupiter scattered about the area that was capable of being scavenged and reproduced along with periodical random drops from the sky was cans of beans, vegetables, potatoes, and what not as dictated by the punishment for their crimes.

The memory of the Jupiter 2 decomposing over time with little care in the world to repair her on a planet that lacked fuel stung the man in the mind. He recalled the first day that he noticed rust on her figure. He recalled the revelation with analysis that they were forcibly aging slower than normal. It made sense with the process that the Robinsons had gone through before being sent into their ship and sent their way to the prison planet where they crashed -- everyone alive -- with their jailer have announced they hadn't expected so little fuel to get to the area of the planet needed for landing.

Drun turned his attention away from the reminder of what they were supposed to have used for the rest of their reign on the planet. It was never supposed to be this way of having a extended life span. They weren't supposed to be using a cavern as their royal palace. The Jupiter 2 was supposed to be the base of operations, their royal palace, all cherry picked and tested, that was to be maintained as a home.

"Let's do that." Drun said.

Drun and Judy walked away holding hands with small smiles of their own toward the other.


	3. To the path left out by the trees

Will continued walking on through the landscape of the planet that was dark and dreary with trees that lacked life. He walked through the natural made passageway which consisted of trees that were bent over nearly touching the other as their branches formed the walls. He wandered off a deal from the place that he started out.

"Sixty thousand years on this piece of rock that we’re unable to leave." Will complained to himself. "Why did it have to be a eternity as a prisoner?”

The boy’s small hands were clenched as he walked on straying further and further away. He looked down spotting there were tread tracks that lead on even further than before.

“There he went!”

He came to a pause noticing that he were somewhere which were relative new---no, it was _forbidden_ by his father and the jailer after a quiet discussion between them with Robot as their translator. The area was familiar but the environment was new as it was the first time that he had seen it this way. First time that he had taken this path at all. 

“Robot went this way. . . Dad wouldn’t go this way just to get him.”

Will looked down toward the trail tracks then looked around as he looked back at his father’s warning.

_“That leads to a very dangerous place, Will.” His father had gestured a finger toward the pathway then opened his palm, his arm on the boy’s shoulder, gesturing him toward the area away from it. “We can explore far and wide around the territory of our planet--”  
_

_“Just not this place?” Will asked.  
_

_John clenched the side of his son’s arm with care.  
_

_“Just not that place, son.” John said.  
_

_“I wish we could explore that place.” Will whined.  
_

_“So do I.” John said. “We must never go there. Ever.”  
_

_“Ever?” Will raised his brows.  
_

_“If it is then it will be our last resort.” John said with a nod. “Our last resort.”  
_

Their conversation echoed in his ears as he looked on toward the space ahead of him. Will were completely alone, lacking for the first time in a long time, his sister and the angelic but forgiving and kind old man that had been forced to become their prisoner. He looked behind him for one last time to make sure that he weren’t being followed by Judy and Drun. They had to be either snogging, fishing, or scavenging for a way off the planet while his father and mother searched for more sources of food. _  
_

He shrugged. There was no sign that said; _don’t walk this way._ Will went on through the tunnel until the tunnel was no more with a series of rocks that were clearly in the way. Will was frozen in his way and watched as the rocks moved around the area in a dancing manner. His hazel eyes became widened watching the rocks move in ways that he had never seen that they had. The show off ceased for Will then he regained movement.

“Robot?”

Will walked on strolling through the area all alone.

“Robot!”

Will cupped his hands against his mouth.

“ROBOT! Come out!”

Will came to find a black doorway across from him with flames that outlined the doorway.

“Robot?” Will was frightened, slightly, then jumped back at the sudden flare that erupted. “Robot?”

Will took a step forward craning his head forward searching for Robot’s figure.

“Robot?”

Will cautiously stepped forward then jumped at the flare of heat from the doorway and hid behind a boulder. He ran off from the boulder landing to his knees then got back up with ease until he came to a pause at a large and wide mammoth cavern. He hid behind a wall of rock then settled down as his heart beat against his chest. He put a hand on his chest then lifted himself up quite slowly turning around and searched for Robot.

"Robot?"

Robot was no where to be seen as Will called for the machine.


	4. Resentment, bitterness, regret, all in one cave

Maureen and John strolled side by side holding on their recent scavenged supplies that were strapped to their back. Unlike her many daughters, Maureen was clad a uniform that was quite a little more revealing with the jacket stripped open with a white undershirt that had a deep v-neck that wasn’t as conservative as her younger daughter, Penny, with the rest of the details being similar in line to John’s uniform except for the untucked jacket.

John was the first to enter the cavern then set the initial supplies against the wall and Maureen complied performing the same task, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead, then sighed. She were quiet as he began to unpack the supplies. He peeled off his jacket then set it off to the side on to a carved out piece of rock that resembled a booth. Maureen set her uniform off alongside his then she strolled to the opening of the cavern rubbing the sides of her arms. She stared at the constellation that stared down the planet from above standing out against the dark clouds that made up the atmosphere of the planet.

“Maureen, get over here!” John barked. “We are not done yet!”

Maureen turned around from the opening of the cavern then took out her tools of the trade. Her voice that she once had wasn’t as much as it used to with the horrors of the planet that had all but taken it away. Her once bright smile was marred by scars from fighting off a creature that dared to touch her children. She were even missing a couple of fingers but not her ring finger.

They chopped the supplies into individual sections until they were sure they had another month worth of supplies. Once they done, John smacked the side of his thigh then grinned and looked upon his partner. She looked down sadly upon the little meal. He recounted the meal count that amounted for the head count of the crew.

“Maureen, Smith will not eat this week. Is that clear?”

Maureen nodded, somberly.

“Maureen,” John put a hand on her shoulder. “Maureen. . .” He squeezed it with one hand. “We’re going to pull through this.”

Maureen looked upon the food plan, longingly, then sadly, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Knock it off! If we resign ourselves to that they decide how many of us will live through this planet then THEY will WIN!”

Maureen opened her eyes.

“Some days, I wonder if they have changed their minds about how many of us will suffer for our crime.”

He looked toward the opening of the cavern folding his arms.

“If only. . . If only. . . If only things went differently.” His voice became faint. “I regret that day.”

He turned toward Maureen.

“More so than Smith may.”

Maureen sighed.

“Darling, do you regret going out there?”

Maureen nodded.

“The world isn’t for people like us. It’s not for savages. It’s not for conquers.” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s not for those who view creatures as monsters, no matter how they are dressed, it’s for explorers, colonists, scientists, diplomats.”

John lifted his head up hoping for her to speak.

“Right when I _want_ you to speak, woman, why can’t I just hear you say one word?"

Maureen was on the verge of tears, distraught, but heartbroken as she yanked herself out of his arms then ran away.

“You think your words will hurt me? Guess what!” He approached her as his mood darkened then threw his hands out into the air. “I have heard far worse from our daughters, Maureen, about being imprisoned here.”

John shook his fist as he grew angry.

“Please, say _something_!”

Maureen turned around toward John.

“How dare you promise me eternal glory and not one inch APOLOGIZE for talking me into bringing our girls here." Her eyes locked on the commander of the voyage with her features twisted with rage, disgust, and resentment. She approached him lifting her arm up slightly but lowered beneath her chest as her hands rolled into a fist. "They have done things they would have never done on Earth; drugs, horrible experiments to themselves to act older and appear older, things that have **STAINED** them."

She released her grip, her hands freed, toward the area of rock across from them with fury and disgust that turned into sorrow.

"You know, John Robinson, we make terrible parents in this world." Maureen's voice was stung by a cold factual tone. 

"We do, Maureen." John conceded, ashamed, all with a sigh.

Maureen's features faltered at hearing that from the person that she once saw as the man who refused to be critiqued and she were floored that he was agreeing.

"We should have killed the children before our sentence started." John lifted his attention up as he continued to speak. "It's worse than being a family of vampires." he looked aside in regret at what situation they were in. "They never age at all as that but this?" he pointed a hand toward the interior of the cave then motioned his hand to all around them as he shook his head. "They age too slowly."

"I do not doubt that we are even better ones in the opposite world.” Maureen finished. 

John sucked that in then sighed.

"Anything else that you like to say?" John asked.

Maureen stared back at him then he lowered his head, rubbing his forearm, quite unhappy.

"I am sorry." John apologized, raising his head up. "I should have _never_ commanded you and the children to come watch us men do conquering."

Maureen lifted her head up, retrieved her jacket, then picked up a spear from the knapsack and walked out of the cave leaving John quite isolated.

"You deserve to be a queen instead of a servant, my darling." John whispered to nothingness.


	5. The Jailer and the boy

Will wandered around for a few hours in the quest for the machine feeling his nerves were on fire as the hair all over his body were raised up.

"Robot! Rooooboooot! ROOOOOOOBOOOOT!"

He sensed that any moment that he could be attacked by aliens or be extracted from the law enforcement for another way out of a miserable existence off the planet if he helped them as his stomach growled.

"Robot! Come out! Robot! Robot!"

Will saw a big gust of flames from overhead and his hazel eyes flipped open so he made a run for the family cavern running back the way that he had taken. He ran and ran until he collapsed down to his knees and his hands on the sand of the treacherous planet. A shadow came over Will so he lifted his attention up to spot the red jailer with two tall antennas, red matching two piece uniform, and large ears looking over him. Will's shoulders slumped then he fainted.

* * *

The family table were set up with the guiding hands of Maureen and Judy from outside of the large cavern. There were additional rocks that were large with a flat base at the bottom and a small section that bore resemblance to a bowl set in the middle. Judy set the make shift silverware for the meal alongside the bowls as Maureen excused herself, silently, exiting the tunnel with her spear.

Judy shook her head. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. It was never supposed to be the existence of barbarians living off the welfare of aliens, being at their mercy constantly, it was never suppose to be living on a dark planet, it was never supposed to watch the Jupiter 2 rust away as they gradually let it go as they were never going to get off the planet with it (it would have been a empty hope, a empty lie, a cruel reminder that they were imprisoned, this was how Judy rationalized her father letting the Jupiter go) for Alpha Centauri. 

She walked out of the cavern then cupped her hands around her mouth, “Y’all, dinner is ready!” and her voice was carried for the distance. She returned to the table then sat down as her father and mother entered the chamber. Maureen quickly poured in the food into the individual bowls along with slices of bread beneath. Smith came to the corner of the doorway then paused observing that he were lacking a bowl.

“Professor, is this another week long fast?”

“Yes.” John replied. “Where is Will?”

“He went off searching for our dear bubble headed knight only hours ago.” Smith explained.

“We offered to help him find him but he blew us off.” Penny added as John locked eyes on to the older man.

“How many hours ago was that?” John asked.

Penny and Smith exchanged a glance then they shrugged.

“Twelve.” they replied.

“And he still hasn’t returned?" John asked.

“A bit problematic.” Smith replied. "Alas, he shall return with him in mere moments!"

Smith turned toward the entrance of the cave anticipating of the boy's safe return but upon turning his attention back, it appeared that he were quite delayed.

“Smith, go out and search for him." John commanded to the man. "You lost him, you will retrieve him.”

“Do I look like a machine that is capable for fighting a boy his age?”

“Do not question me in my cave!”

The camel’s back collapsed and the safety pin that had kept it up so delicately was off as Smith’s eyes flashed open, growling, his features twitching.

“Neeeed I remind you that **I NEARLY LOST A ARM AND A LEG DOING THAT**?” Smith gesture behind himself with his thumb as he exclaimed. He shook his fist in a effort to emphasize the effort. “I failed to get him a number of times!”

“And yet, Robot did." John said. "I am betting on that your failures proceed to allow a way for Robot to return with him."

"Why on Earth do you think this is the same routine?" Smith asked. "He went off the script, he went without me and Penelope. And without the likes of us---he finds trouble on his own." Smith grimaced at the memories from their long stay on the planet. "Deep trouble.”

“You were responsible for him and for Penny when Maureen put them into your care thousands of years ago." John said. "Don't make this any more hurtful."

“He is a grown man by the inside, Professor." Smith became abruptly calm staring down becoming full of contempt upon him. "He can take care of himself."

John stared at the man with righteous fury.

“I am not as strong as you are, you thick headed absurd stupid barbarian!”

Drun was the first of them to lunge at Smith and deliver a punch straight to the face then a kick into the man’s side that became multiple kicks. Smith whimpered as he crawled away from the cavern as he cradled the side of his torso with one hand as his support up. The rest of the Robinsons resumed eating waiting for Will to return with the wounded man. Penny looked on toward the direction of the cavern between each bites of her meal searching for view of Robot, Doctor Smith, and Will returning quite disheveled but alright for the wear and eager for a meal.

The family ate slowly at the dinner table eating what meal they were allowed to and Penny slowly stopped looking back at the entrance of the cavern focusing on her meal taking reluctant sips as Drun and Judy played footsie underneath the table. Judy's eyes were briefly alive, flickering in ways that they hadn't in some time, facing the younger man who hid the smallest of smiles then lowered his gaze so Judy returned the favor as a faint small smile appeared on her lips as the professor and the wife were eating side by side quite miserable.

It would have been hard to tell they were a happy family if not for the looks of happiness from the children not just from the younger members. Somewhere, far away, Judy considered, _there is happier versions of my family with a operational ship and fuel to keep the power running_. She twirled her spoon gently in the bowl then took some of her own sips from the bowl and sighed. The brief respite from misery by playing with her love interest that she had chosen personally by hand over the crew of young men and women under her father's order for the person to trust as his right hand man.

John lifted his attention up over the groaning of Jailer.

"Will!" John exclaimed.

Maureen was up to her feet bolting over toward Jailer and caught the unconscious boy into her arms.

"What happened?" John asked.

Jailer shrugged then pointed toward the tunnel.

"Why did he go there?" John asked.

Jailer shrugged, again.

"Maybe Robot went there?"

"Penny, do not make a obscene accusation just like that in my cave." John snapped. "Robot is too smart to do that. It is not in his best interest to go there."

"Robot is a strange creature, dad." Judy reminded as she waved her spoon in mid-air leaning back into the chair with her hand cupping her elbow. "He has made half of the trouble happen just by making deals trying to get off this planet and leave us all abandoned."

"Robot is being moody." Drun said then pointed toward the mouth of the cave. "He does go there in the middle of the night." he shrugged with little thought. "Majority of the time, I see him weave out of the trees and go to the distance. May need some down time from the most superior species on this planet."

"How often does he go there?" John asked.

"Often enough to notice when I can't sleep." Drun folded his arms, leaned forward on the table, lifting a brow. "Not sure that he started the habit when we crashed here."

"It's a uncertainty." Judy acknowledged. "It may have started after the ship rusted away."

"Makes a lot of sense why he would need to leave." Drun grimaced, cupping the side of his face, then sighed. "He blames us a lot about becoming the most useless mechanical creature on the surface of our prison planet."

"Then we have to wait until Robot comes back on his own." John said.

"Father," Penny said. "He has been there all day and Drun did say he goes there in the middle of the night."

Drun frowned.

"I didn't spot him leave last night." Drun mentioned as he took his arms off the table. "The woman has a point."

Penny beamed, proudly, at the word 'woman' and grinned.

"We will start searching in the morning upon Will waking up and find out if Robot went that way." John said. "If he did. . . He may have gone somewhere that we cannot retrieve him from."

"Such as where, father?" Penny asked.

"There is a doorway behind the other side of the tunnel." John pointed toward the entrance of the cavern. "Black as night with flames that erupt from it."

"Oooh flames!" Judy exclaimed, rubbing her shoulder, walking around the table. "How warm it is to think of!"

"It is also the area where rocks move."

John elaborated as his oldest daughter sat down on to a spare rock and laughed with her arms folded, one leg crossed, her figure shaking with low laughter. John waited for her to stop laughing as she leaned aside the wall of rock leaning her elbow against the natural made counter.

"Where people become the rocks and cannot move for minutes at a time."

Judy had ceased to laugh.

"Robot was obedient enough to translate at the beginning that the doorway leads somewhere between dimensions with a delicate thin bridge and that is why we must never go there."

Penny finished her meal.

"I won't go there unless it is for necessity purposes." Penny said. "It would be stupid to go there at all with no reason to be there."

Penny went over to the tub of water then cleaned her hands with care.

"Judy?" John asked.

"It would be beyond stupid." Judy said. "It would be insane." she rubbed the side of her temple then got up and joined Penny with a small walk. "Just to escape this miserable rock."

John sighed, relieved, Maureen placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked toward her then smiled a little.

The family washed up then changed into their night uniforms and slipped into their new iteration of sleeping bags. 

All the while Smith camped out in a smaller cave with camping gear alotted nearby the Robinson cave recovering from his wounds.


	6. Tending to a prisoner

The Jailer was impacted by the very same process that made the Robinsons what they were. His task was to ensure that they stayed imprisoned on the planet and keep watch; but over time, it became quite clear that they were doing it themselves. Most of the time, the Professor had him and Drun imprison a member of the family for a period of time. The sounds of the children or the adults pleading to be released, empty promises, false promises, bargaining---all things that were left ignored or taken seriously by the guests of the planet who had been forced to stay while they made repairs.

Jailer was a creature of habit; spinning in circles, it was his favorite activity, keeping watch, eyes all out, his antennas ready and alert to detect a unwelcome individual, telepathically overwhelm said unwelcome individual, read thoughts/plan thoughts/other telepathic powers, and put them in a cavern while he seeked for their craft and determine if they were experiencing a problem that could be rectified before anyone could notice that he were gone. Much of the time the Robinsons _noticed_.

His clothing was actually his skin, layered skin, with spikes that trailed down the center of his back even the side of his arms and pant leg. His large eyes easily blended in with the rest of his body; red, red, red, red. Jailer was supposed to be a enforcer of their sentence, he had volunteer to be away from his people, he had been breed for this purpose, he were made this way, it was better than harvesting, craftsmanship, scientific internship, business field, or traveling around.

Instead of all that, he were tending the wounds of a member of the convicted party. Jailer tended to the older man’s wounds, applying the necessary machine on the man’s ribs that encouraged bone recovery that made a sound more accustomed to creatures seen on the Earth man’s home planet. The man was quiet with little groaning, slight trembling, fear palpable within the cavern, his eyes focused on the entrance way to the cavern with dread that a familiar face would come in, strip him of the machines roughly and dropped it into the medical pile, then resume what he had only started hours ago.

Jailer came to the corner of the small cavern then leaned against the entrance way with his arms folded.

“I am scared.”

Jailer turned in the direction of Smith.

“ _Vur nur_.”

It was the same answer as he gave every time, a beautiful phrase on his homeworld, endearing, kind when in response to the feelings that someone in trouble were having; _so am I._ It was more beautiful in the gesture that meant; “if you are suffering then so am I”. It was so unfortunate that Earth men and Earth women were unable to understand him. So unfortunate that every time it were said, Robot wasn’t around to translate.

"If I go back there, I do not readily believe that everything will return to normal."

Smith looked down toward his fingers that he were playing with.

" _Kur nar qurk ev_?" Why is it that?

Smith grimaced looking up.

"I have had enough. I can't live a million years around Drun. If I become a old man living in the same space as the Major then surely that beating will kill me."

The old man was a flawed individual, a saint, and too kind. The straw was broken with the discussion about Will. He used to be so willing in searching for him on his own but the man was three years older than how he once was thousands of years ago. Age slowly crept upon him but it were noticeable and it was clear that he had only been recently faced with a single question; do you want to be beaten up for the next eternity? His hands were trembling in his lap as he looked off, grimacing, at his decision.

" _Ackluabbar, vi-yn ka'rn_?" Doctor Smith, really? " _Vechur_ \--" he gestured in the small cave. Cave. " _furn_." Empty."

Smith nodded, his eyes squeezed shut, pained.

"Please, get my belongings and bring them here." He opened his eyes, pleadingly, looking up toward Jailer, his sad blue eyes weren't as bright as they used to. Not as some ounce of happiness were left in the eyes that had desperately searched for positivity. "If I hadn't offered that banana to the diplomat with Will by my side then the professor wouldn't have killed all those people thinking they were savages."

Smith's voice hitched.

"It was just a banana! A banana!" Smith cried, with little noise into his hands, his shoulders moving with each sob. "A banana! Over a banana!"

Jailer approached Smith then sat down alongside him and patted on the side of his shoulder.

"It's all my fault. All my fault." Smith used his sleeve to wipe away the tears. "You're kind for a jailer. I don't understand you. Without additional help, without anything to report in your duty, without any contact from your species. . . Your species may be extinct, you may be the last, you have every reason to leave us be and go home while we blow up each attempt to get off this world. And yet, you remain. Why? Do you think that the good part of humanity is worth orbiting?"

Jailer nodded, without making any further sound, without needing to hesitate, then popped a couple of marbles into his mouth and proceeded to speak.

"Because you make this time here worth my while being kind." The words came out with ease then spat them back out to the dirt.

Smith flashed a tearful but warm grin in response then fell asleep to the humming from the machine. Jailer got up to his feet covered the man's lower half in rock that acted as a hard but warmth concealment blanket then picked up a long slab of rock and tucked it beneath Smith's head. He was fast asleep by then with plenty of snores. Jailer turned away then made his return to the Robinson Cavern for the man's belongings in the dead of night and returned before the man was awake.


	7. To explain oneself

Soon, Will was awake the following morning. There was no sleeping bag for the older man around the cavern, all his belongings had been taken away with no sign that he had once been there at all, just a empty sad void was all that was left of his section of the cavern.

The sleeping bags were hidden behind the boulders after the morning meal, the plates were cleaned, stacked, and the chairs were carefully stacked as the tension in the cavern were almost floating above the boy's shoulder. Will participated in the weekly showers in the far off cave system underneath a hot spring, and paused to observe that Smith was no where in sight among his family before or after leaving the cavern.

"Where is Doctor Smith?" Will asked, after they returned from their weekly showers.

"He moved out." Judy replied.

"Did dad order him?" Will asked.

"No." Judy replied.

"Oh, so Doctor Smith finally snapped." Will said. "Never saw that coming."

"Snapped." Drun snorted at the thought with his arms folded. "He barely lifted a fist when I gave him what he so deserved."

"Snapped means something different when it comes to Doctor Smith, Drun." Will replied. "He isn't a violent person. You see how he avoids having to be violent at all."

"Dropping a rock on my head is violent!" Drun argued.

"He was aiming for the traveler of the week." Will said. "Besides, Doctor Smith did tell me you insulted his Great Aunt Maude."

"Well, he deserved it for taking so long!" Drun announced and the rest of the family rolled their eyes.

"Technically, that was for retribution." Judy argued. "He wasn't intending to be violent."

"I got a scrape from it!" Drun said.

"A tiny little cut, Drun." Judy replied as she stifled back a smile as she frowned. "Admit it."

"Fine, I had it coming." Drun admitted, reluctantly as he sighed, folding his arms. "I always bite my own ass around him when we need him."

"You think?" Penny asked, lifting a brow as she folded her arms.

"Yeah." Drun admitted.

John took Will by the shoulder, abruptly, with a dark look on his face and Will gulped. The boy followed his father until they were out of the cavern.

"Will, why did you disobey my direct command?" John asked, all too calmly.

"Robot went there." Will said.

"Went where?" John's brows furrowed together.

"Through the tunnel." Will pointed toward the trees then lowered his hand as he shifted toward John. "I think he went into the doorway, too!"

John visualized the machine rolling through the area for some nefarious reason or---he had given up waiting for a craft to land and try to escape the planet in a desperate bid to escape being stranded with them as he had became hopeless and made a decision for himself that meant his purpose of conquering would be seen by falling over the bridge. He could practically see in his mind's eye.

"Thanks to my dream last night, I remembered that his treads went in through there!"

John's face turned a perfect shade of white then grit his teeth before starting on a tangent of conversation that he had only rehearsed in his head for a moment like this that he never thought would get to be said.

"Will, you must get that out of your head!" John took the boy by the shoulders and clenched them. "If he is gone there, he is gone, we can't go in there. Don't even think about it!"

"But dad!" Will protested.

"Will." John said, glaring upon the boy.

"He is important to conquering Alpha Centauri!" Will protested.

John's temper arose as his skin became heated at the mere reminder of Robot's role.

"It has been thousands of years since we left Earth!" John shook the boy, aggressively, then paused as he gripped harder trying to get it through his thick skull. "A different family has conquered the Alpha Centauri system."

"Robot is nothing to us but a reminder of what we were supposed to do and where we are supposed to be! He has only prevented us from leaving this prison for as long as we have been here. He is only a bleak reminder of how we got here, how we got stuck, how the Jupiter 2 rusted away, how we all let her go. Robot is a just a bunch of badly made parts for our voyage."

"We can protect ourselves, we can leave this planet without him, we can get to Gamma without any more interference, without any more hindrance, without any more of Robot's malfunctions. Will, his existence has prevented us from leaving this planet with travelers or stealing their spacecraft! He isn't important equipment anymore to us."

"To you, you mean." Will said.

"No," John said as he shook his head with a grimace upon the boy. "The family."

Will looked back at his actions that lead to the endangerment of the family.

"He is a liability. Always has been one since we crashed here." he let go of his son's shoulders withdrawing his hands. "It's time we let Robot go."

Will's attention returned toward John then nodded with a defiant look.

"Okay, dad." Will said. "I will. . . I wish that things were different, that I looked my age, that Judy and Drun got to have many beautiful and strong children, that you and mom got to grow old together, that we had a ship, and a fleet behind us to rule the planet."

"And I would have loved to watch you grow up very fast, my sour little prince." John said. "I wish you and I got to fight side by side against the natives of Gamma every day."

Will embraced his father so John returned the gesture.

"We're both wishers, aren't we?" Will asked.

"It runs in the family, son." John said, closing his eyes, clenching on to his son's figure, looking back at what he had optimistically dreamed of thousands of years ago. "It's made of dreams."

"It is." Will agreed.

John broke the hug then slid his arm along his son's shoulder.

"How about we go exploring for a alien spacecraft?" John asked.

"I would love that, dad!" Will replied as John messed with his son's hair and the boy laughed as they turned away from the tunnel of trees then walked on leaving it behind.


	8. The key to falling at once

"Failed to find a traveler?" Judy asked, quite bemused, as Will and John returned with mud coating their normally pristine uniforms that were soaked.

Thunder struck from outside of the area loudly with emphasis. **BOOM**.

"We found one but . . ." John said then grimaced as Penny looked on in awe of the light show. "They saw us." 

**BOOM** went the cosmic thunder outside.

Judy laughed and laughed falling over landing to her side at the story that was already present to her. John looked aside quite embarrassed as Will dusted off his uniform with his hands until it were clean on the white side visibly. Drun was set against the corner of the cavern as he, too, started to laugh then so did Penny and for the first time sound of laughter came from Maureen.

John's eyes flashed open at the sound appearing shocked as did Will. The two men exchanged glances with one another as one by one, until it were Maureen only laughing, the rest of the Robinsons looked on in shock at a sound coming from the older woman. Member of the family exchanged a glance with the other then burst into laughter, falling over, their backs on the floor of the cavern. 

* * *

The men and women stripped out of their uniforms and their shackles, setting them aside, slipping into their summer themed checkered tops and checkered shorts huddled around a fire that was installed from the center of the cavern. Their clothing hung above the fire pit being warmed losing the moisture while on the clothesline with their shoes set on the rocky terrain around the fire pit as the family ate their individual meals with a mess.

Smith's absence echoed loudly in the cavern that normally was full of snoring from one member.

At least, for once in their long sentence on the planet there wasn't anyone complaining that morning about Smith's snoring waking them up.

There was no complaining either about Robot taking up space, either.

* * *

"Will, since your babysitter has decided to withdraw himself from our social circle, it's about time we had a small discussion."

This comment was made approximately four days after Smith had departed the Robinson Cavern. Will had just awakened from his sleeping back with his father loomed over him in the striped black and white pajamas. John took the boy's hand then guided him out of the cavern. They walked slowly among the dark with Will lagging behind the older man.

It was four days worth of no activity, no travelers, just difficulty in finding Smith at all (as though he had packed up and went to the other side of the planet for solitary confinement quite willingly) on the planet. The lack of travelers wasn't as concerning as they had buffers in between each visit and the children sometimes wrestled, now that Smith weren't there; Will and Penny came back after a day with wrestling with the bloody noses and bruises to show the effort they had taken against one another that had become combat practice.

Will trudged after his father until a lone large arm caused him to pause in his tracks. They were on a tall hill overlooking the area ahead of the cavern and beyond with little light that shined through the clouds that took on the form of constellation and the view of the occasional full moons in the sky were enough to call a relative normal sight. Will rubbed his eyes then lifted his attention up toward his father with a loud yawn.

"One day, son, you will call this your kingdom."

Will scanned the scenery of the land that they called a prison.

"I won't quite call it a kingdom, dad."

"Why not?" John looked upon Will with a frown quite perplexed.

"There aren't peasants, animals, trees, knights, and huts."

"What I mean is, one day, this will be all yours." John said. "To do whatever that it is you want."

"Whatever that it is I want?" Will's eyes flashed open.

"Whatever that it is." John nodded back quite gravely then smiled, proudly, upon his boy as the wind was passing by them. The professor moved his hands to the side of his hips turning his attention on toward the distance. "This will happen when I am gone."

"Course." Will said, somberly, looking up toward his father. "Have you given this speech to Penny and Judy?"

"To Drun and Judy." John said then nodded as he admired the view of the vast prison planet. "I have."

Will became quiet then nodded.

"I'll be ready to protect my land, dad, when the time comes." Will said.

John smiled, briefly, upon his son then it faded.

"I know you will protect it very thoroughly." John said.

The father and son duo turned away then went back the way that they had came with yawns.

* * *

Judy loomed over Drun the following afternoon holding a collection of grapes. Drun was smiling from his corner of the room as she lowered the grapes into his mouth then he clenched the number of rounded purple grapes, tightly gripped, then she yanked it back and he proceeded to chew the batch. Judy stroked the side of the major's hairy cheek as he looked on chewing with his mouth halfway open.

Judy was carefully prying away the pieces of grape that were stuck between the major's teeth when Will came in.

Will paused, disgusted.

"You're better than that!" Will exclaimed. "He can take care of his teeth on his own!"

"That's my mate." Drun said as he leaned up and Judy rested her hands on her knees.

"She is your wife, slacker!" Will said. "She feeds you, she clothes you, she cares for you; but she isn't supposed to be taking CARE OF YOUR HYGIENE!"

"You can't order me around!" Drun replied.

"Well, you are just getting a state of what that future is like when dad kicks the bucket!" Will shot back. "Dad married you after we got here and now you've reduced yourself to babying him? That's not the Judy that I know."

Judy got up, silently, then slapped him and returned to Drun's side as Will rubbed the side of his cheek looking hurt. 

"That reorders the totem pole with that, don't you think?" Drun asked with a cocky smile.

Will shook his head in disgust then ran off from the cavern leaving Drun and Judy to resume what they were doing only moments ago.

"Alright, where was I?" Judy asked.

"Giving me more grapes." Drun replied.

"Ah, that." Judy grinned then lowered the batch of grapes.

* * *

It was a day after being slapped by his eldest sister. It had been a long time since he had been slapped by her without any warning, without insulting her directly, without wounding her to merit the act. Will sensed that he were being followed as he walked on among the landscape going on a walk early in the afternoon. He shifted on the heels of his feet facing forward the direction of the stalker with a jump and a slightly terrified shriek. Penny briefly laughed at him as she pointed at him, her laughter now silent, as her features were twisted in bemusement.

"Shut up, woman!" Will demanded. "And explain why you're following me."

Penny's laughter came to a pause after a few moments of standing there then regained her composure. 

"Will, have you seen Robot?" Penny asked.

Will frowned, his brows knitting together, by the unexpected question.

"No." Will replied. "I haven't seen him since a few days ago."

"When is he coming back?" Penny asked. 

"He isn't coming back." Will replied, quite certain.

"He always comes back, whether he wants to or not, he can't hide from us for long." Penny said.

"He can't." Will agreed. "He will wear himself out and come back. . . some day."

"But will it be next week?" Penny asked. "You always know when he comes back and you are always right about him."

"No." Will said. "This is different."

"What about the week after that?"

"No."

"The week after that?"

"No."

"What about the week after that?"

"For the last time; no! Maybe a dozen years after!"

"In a dozen years? Noooo!" Penny cried. "He is the only one who can massage my back right!"

"Massaging backs?" Will looked bewildered toward Penny. "You know Robot messes up Doctor Smith's back real good and the rest of us when we ask for a proper back massage!"

"Yeah, but I like the pain." Penny said. "I want him back. Is he going to come back in the next two months?"

Will rolled his hand into a fist then knocked her down.

"I think he is never coming back!" Will shouted. "NEVER. EVER! He is too smart, too superior, too arrogant to return somewhere that annoys him!"

Penny charged up to her feet then crashed upon Will. They traded blows, throwing one another against the ground or boulders, gaining bruises, cuts, and scrapes from their combat. Penny was on the winning side as she leaped from side to side. She had changed tactics, Will observed. She was using all those lessons of fighting against him and it were painfully real. She delivered a sharp upper cut knocking him down to the ground.

Will growled then charged after her. Penny jumped aside and he crashed against the boulder with a loud smack.

"PENNY!"

It was the first time that Will heard his mother and so did Penny

"Yes, mother?" Penny asked.

"That is not how you beat a boy at his own strengths." Maureen said, cooly. 

"Then what?" Penny asked.

"Get up, William." Maureen ordered. 

Will complied.

"Here." Maureen walked back by ten steps. "Charge."

Will charged but was halted by a hand.

"This is the way." Maureen said while her daughter's eyes glint and his feet dug into the dirt then slapped him sending Will falling to the side to the dirt. "Always take advantage of your advantages."

Will spat out dirt as he lifted himself up and Maureen walked away. Penny laughed then walked off leaving the boy alone as he wiped the corner of his mouth off with the side of his wrist. Will promptly got himself up, dusting himself off, muttering "I let my guard down and got beat up by women." quite exasperated and disappointed in himself. 

* * *

Will found Smith hard at work on a rock with proper protective gear the following two days after the encounter with his father. The boy loudly cleared his throat then the older man shifted his attention upon him then smiled ever so slightly. 

"Doctor Smith, are you going to come back in a few thousand years after this?"

Smith slid up the protective helmet.

"You and your family have treated me horribly for the last sixty thousand years." then Smith shook his head with a look of disgust upon the boy. "No, I am not. I have had _enough_ being degraded day in and day out."

"So, we're not friends anymore?"

"William, when have you ever called me a friend? I have heard not--" he stood up to his feet. "one peep from you that we're friends."

Will looked aside with a grimace then looked toward the man.

"I guess I haven't said that."

"You haven't. I need time away . . . Just for a little while, William. . Or else, this feeling I am lately experiencing since my move out for the last few days will become a real thing."

"What is the feeling, Doctor Smith?"

"That this chapter in my life with your family is ending."

"Ending."

"A terrible chapter!"

"Being on this planet?"

Smith nodded.

"And a bright new one will begin, better, happier, lighter, hopeful, heavens, maybe a little more optimistic." he leaned against the improvised statue. "The end is coming for all of us, my dear boy."

Smith lifted his attention up toward the stars that were seen through the almost eternal night sky searching for signs of a invasion, of a traveler, of a asteroid or a comet, all to seek for anything that justified the way that he were feeling as he were full of something different. It wasn't despair, dread, or a dark feeling that rested in his belly. It was a light feeling that frightened him with good spun into it. 

"And no one shall be spared." Smith finished then looked upon the boy. " _If_ I don't have quality time to myself."

"Doctor Smith, if you tried to kill us all that would be a nice change from the terrible normal we live in." Will said. "I haven't felt that kind of adrenaline since fifty thousand years ago."

Smith smiled, then lowered his helm, patting on Will's shoulder.

"William, how about you go play with your sister or do some exploring?" Smith offered. "There are some caves that you have refused to go in."

"They're terrifying!"

"With a torch, they're not. You'll experience adrenaline once more."

"You are a. . ." Will struggled to get the words once more. 

"I am a what?"

"A idiot." Will said.

"You can't say it. Why?"

"Because friends make me weak."

They hadn't discussed this matter in the sixty thousand years that they had been trapped on this planet by choice or by accident.

Smith recalled his decision to stay behind instead of leaving prior to the departure. It was his decision to face the consequences of his actions desperately trying to undo what he had done and strand them far off course that it would be close to impossible to resume the travel to Alpha Centauri colonization even if took being away from home for the rest of his natural life. A natural life that consisted around fifty years instead of thousands to reflect over before the end finally claimed him.

Smith had saved the Robinsons, _successfully,_ with little complaints but certain satisfaction and sorrow of having to leave the planet at all _._ However, the boy hadn't been the one to make the decision to be lost forever far from civilization. The boy hadn't changed at all since Smith had first met him, he was still the same oppressive, violence raging, wishful, insulting individual closed off from the good.

Once, Smith speculated the boy had some trauma for the lifestyle of violence that raged on Earth watching his father or mother fight (and off Earth, but that was harder to get the boy to open up than not) people. 

"You need allies."

"Those are friends."

"Yes, they are, allies always have your back."

"Always? The allies you think of are traitorous, back stabbing, manipulative---"

"These people help you in conquering, William, and winning in times of war." Smith cut off the boy.

"You would never do that." Will said.

Smith paused, looking aside, reflectively on the potential ideals.

"I wouldn't." Smith agreed with a small nod. "There is a world that exists in which we would fight side by side against entire armies."

"The mythical opposite world?"

"The land of the light."

"That's a bunch of baloney, Doctor Smith. It's stupid, it's silly, it's absurd---" Will stopped upon the glare by the older man as it dawned on him. "I just made your point. Didn't I?"

"You have." Smith sighed, lowering his head, his arms set on his knees as his hands dangled between his legs. "William, I have given you several olive branches and you have been doing nothing but burning them." he slowly rubbed his hands together as he reluctantly continued the speech that he had only imagined playing with as a fantasy. "I have forgiven you time after time."

Smith got up to his feet then loomed over the boy.

"I have been patient with you . . . but today, that patience shall be no more."

Will folded his arms then stepped back from the older man. as the mood around them darkened. 

"Are you going to kill me?" Will picked up a rock as he took several steps back.

"I am not even done dressing you down, young man." His words came out as vile as his father's was and it sounded cruel, serious, that was quite telling of his intentions. His words were calm with little to no shouting necessary.

Will paused six feet away standing behind a boulder as Smith's face turned a heated red.

"I have called you friend for so long and thought of you as one in the most positive ways."

Smith raised a hand up then shook it looking upon the boy with contempt as he followed the boy around the boulder as his hands traveled along the dark gray surface of the large rock with his eyes trained on the person that was once seen as a possible friend.

"Well, you're a moron thinking we have anything redeeming."

Smith's features darkened as he were slowly catching on.

"One day, you will understand why the phrase, "Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer" truly means."

"I know what it means!" Will protested.

"You do not, my dear boy." Smith looked on, sadly, upon the boy. "Not at all."

"I do!"

"Then what does it mean?" Smith asked, gently.

"Keep a eye out for your enemies and have your family have your back." Will replied, simply.

Smith looked like he wanted to cry.

"You will regret, some day soon, not making friends like _I_ then going on to calling them allies."

Will paused in his tracks as Smith proceeded to catch up with him, his hands linked behind his back, with a calm but justified silent rage looking down upon the boy.

"Friends are always your allys in the most desperate times. They have your back to the end of the line. They are _always_ there."

"If they were always there then you wouldn't be here! Then we wouldn't be here! Friends don't exist."

Then Smith halted looking upon the boy with disdain, disgust, and resentment then began to speak as though he were delivering a set of cold hard facts.

"You have just told me that you will never trust a single person with your life outside of your family." Smith picked up his carving tool then smacked it against his palm as he looked upon the boy. "I can't be that person to spend eternity with." 

Will regained movement in his feet as he looked upon in horror.

"And you shall never change." Smith finished. "You know what Earth has been doing to evil people like you for centuries before your family's departure?"

"Enlighten me, Doctor Smith." Will said.

Smith flashed a slasher smile back at the boy.

"Annihilating you." Smith replied.

Smith swung the carving tool forward then the boy ran on ahead of the older man. Smith's tool smacked the side of a boulder then kicked it out of the side. He proceeded to chase the boy through the environment with a fast sprint. Will ran on and on with Smith close behind him quite defiant. Smith chased off into the tunnel of trees until there were no more trees.

Abruptly, they were frozen in their tracks and rocks moved around them as Smith struggled to move. Will saw the portal from ahead of them and bided his time until movement returned to him. Will out ran the older man running into the portal ahead. Will felt as though he were falling through time and space with a shriek. He looked around spotting the views of universes wherever he looked until the feeling of falling was no more and the view was decorated by constellations mixed in with the views of universes.

"Will, I did not anticipate you to join me."

Will turned in the source of the direction.

" **YOU!** "

Robot bobbed his helm down.

"I am me." Robot said. "You are Will Robinson."

"You are a General Utilities Non-Theorizing Annihilation Control Robot!" Will's hands rolled into fists against his side. "You are a traitorous, stupid, moronic, wandering broken machine!"

"I was designed and programmed by the best scientists that included Colonel Dr Zachary Smith." Robot replied as his helm twirled. "Humans are very flawed individuals when it comes to programming a machine."

"You bet they are!" Will fired back.

"I accept your apology." Robot said.

"I didn't apologize, traitor." Will sneered.

"That is your language which is in contrast to how the others apologize." Robot replied as his helm bobbed up. "Yours isn't as condescending or mocking as they are."

Will looked around.

"Where are we?" Will asked.

"We are on the bridge between dimensions, Will." Robot replied, factually. "Should you fall over the bridge; you will be lost forever."

"So?" Will lifted his brows.

"Why am I here? That is a very excellent question. Why are you here _here_ , punk? Finally had enough of Doctor Smith's empathy for losing a friend?"

"Since you've been gone, things have changed, really changed. Doctor Smith now wants to kill me, Judy and Drun are now---she is babying him, Penny is even more annoying asking about if we are going to find you, mom is just wandering around doing nothing like a lost dog, and dad is on his own searching."

"For what?"

"A ship."

"Of course."

Will looked over.

"Who is _that_?" Will exclaimed. "He is dressed in purple---including yellow and green! Pee yewh! That is too vibrant!"

"That is your opposite self." Robot replied as Will stared back at his opposite self. 

"Is he a whiny baby? A brat? A. . ." he winced with a shudder. "A feminist?"

"He is everything that you are not." Robot replied as Will faced the mirror ahead then felt along his figure that his counterpart followed. 

After a few moments, Will became bored then walked away.

"Everything that I am not." Will repeated. "He can change. I can't change."

He came to the edge of the bridge then walked on with a trudge looking down toward the views of different universes all around him.

"I wish I could change," Robot slowly wheeled over toward the boy. "I wish I could make allies, divide and conquer, I wish I can make right hand allies."

Will was walking on ahead of the machine looking around as he went further and further down the bridge that had smoke drifting off the edge. 

"You are not a machine." Robot said, calmly. 

"I wish I was a machine," Will said. "Because then I could change my mind. I wish I could."

He was quiet observing the flickering universes, sensing strange ones as he passed them, a few of which were strikingly similar to his except for the lack of being lost on a single planet but still as chained and cuffed as they once were with the jailer, there were dozens that were similar and different to his world as he passed through searching among the many worlds. It felt as though hours were passing through the area. 

"Will you return?" Robot asked.

"I wish I could return."

"But why?"

"But I don't know how things can ever go back to the way they once were."

"Things can always revert to the way they once had been."

"Doctor Smith is probably all alone in the cave after murdering my family. I wish that didn't have to happen."

"That is highly unlikely, Will."

"I wish I were brave, strong, tall, and defiant."

"You _are_ all that, Will."

"I wish I were." Will mumbled.

Robot slid his claws out then shoved the boy off.

"You wish too much!" Robot shouted then had a long evil mechanical laugh that haunted the falling boy.

 _Oh,_ Was Will's train of thought as he fell with a scream, _Doctor Smith would have stopped me from falling if I called him my friend._

_I wish I called him friend._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annihilation used to be Conquer but after a moment of debating this as I fell asleep, I decided to make it what it is now


	9. Fall of the Robinson women

Will vanished through the doorway before Smith's eyes then the older man's demeanor fell as he lowered the carving tool along his side and waited for the boy to return with the tool by his side. He waited for a very long time as it grew colder around him. Eventually, Smith's head bobbed up in alarm as the air felt different around him; empty.

He started to get the distinct feeling that he wasn't coming back in the foreseeable future. He lowered the tool to his side staring on toward the area ahead with the edge of the pick-axe meeting his trousers. Smith turned away then ran on in the direction that he had came. Smith dropped his gear into his personal cave then made his way back to the Robinson cavern.

"Professor! Madame!" Smith panted, leaning against the doorway, as the Robinsons turned their attention off from one another lingering in the shade. "Will went through the tunnel!"

John was the first to stand. 

"Which tunnel?" John asked.

"THE forbidden tunnel!" Smith proclaimed. "He hasn't come back out."

"How long ago?" Maureen was the second to speak.

"I don't know!" Smith exclaimed. "It feels so recent!"

Maureen was the first to exit the cavern with Judy tailing behind her and the men tailing them.

* * *

Smith lead the family on a rush to the tunnel, through the patch of boulders, then directly to the flaming path of the doorway to another gateway. The women, gasped in awes, Drun and John screamed the first time that he were floating through space, and Smith yelped as he were quite startled as he felt that he were free falling just as the rest of the members of the Robinsons.

"We're falling!" Drun screamed.

"MY LORD!" John hollered.

"Oooh!" Judy gasped.

"Woah!" Penny said.

"Oh heavens!" Smith cried.

"Beautiful." Maureen whispered.

"Mom, dad, I feel that we are preparing to land!" Judy announced.

"I feel the same way!" John agreed with a shout.

"Oh, thank the lord!" Smith said, relieved.

"We've landed!" Drun said a moment after.

The women were the first to go on to the bridge cupping their hands around their mouths as they went on.

"William!" John called. "William!"

"Will!" Penny cried.

"Willy!" Judy called.

"William!" Maureen cried.

"Will!" Drun called.

Smith was trembling, afraid, as he looked from side to side quite irked by the potential conversation as they continued to call for the boy. He could see it play out just before him featuring the boy coming forward then explain, " _Doctor Smith chased me here with a pick axe!_ " and the glare that would come from the man would condemn Smith in the worst forms of justice that only the cruel professor could think of. Yes, he would die. Just not by the professor's hand.

"I am doomed. . ." Smith muttered to himself. "I am doomed. . . I am doomed."

Smith squeezed his eyes closed lowering his head then sighed as acceptance and resignation came over him.

"Doomed." His voice was quieter.

He played with his fingers as he walked further along the edge of the walkway as the Robinsons cried out for Will. Smith looked back as he lagged in the background behind them then sighed looking upon the edge of the unknown. He didn't want to die horribly without dignity. This was his way out, a dignified death, his death unseen, unknown, quietly. He wiped away a tear at the thought of being rid of them. It wasn't a sad tear but a happy one. 

"Robot!" Penny cried.

"ROBOT!" John's voice boomed. "Where is Will?"

"He fell." Robot replied.

"Robot, assemble us a rope." Drun ordered. "A ladder if necessary and don't even half-ass it."

"Where did he fall, Robot?" Maureen asked.

"Over there."

Smith joined the group.

"You," Smith said. "Where is he?"

"Over there," Robot gestured over the edge then whirred toward the group. "There was nothing I could do. He was persistent. He jumped in."

"My little boy jumped over the bridge!" John said.

"Robot, MAKE THAT LADDER!" Maureen ordered, aggressively.

"Affirmative." Robot said. "I do not know if this will help."

"Anything will do to help us find him." Judy said as John squeezed Maureen's hand and Maureen returned the gesture while Robot clacked his claws together.

"Judy, Penny, hold the ladder." Maureen ordered.

"Yes, mother." Penny replied.

"He may have fallen into a dimension by now." Robot reported. "He will never find his way back."

Maureen looked toward John then the professor nodded, somberly, with conviction

"If he doesn't find his way back then we will find him." Maureen said, confidently.

Smith leaned over the bridge, from between the women, as Maureen continued her descent down then his blue eyes flashed open spotting a distant figure from ahead of the descending matriarch. 

"I SEE HIM!" Smith screamed. "I see the boy!"

"Guntar, make more ladder, quickly!" Drun ordered. 

"William!" Maureen called. "Mommy is coming! Hold on, William! I am coming!"

"He's right there!" Judy cried. "I can see him!"

"So can I!" Penny chimed in.

"There is hope after all!" John said. "We're going to get our boy back!"

Smith leaned forward, his hand on the girls shoulders, right as Robot was assembling the ladder then accidentally slid the two young women forward as he leaned forward. It was done in a moment as they were too, sliding forward, looking over the edge, then fell down.

It was Drun's scream that came first as he saw the horror unfold before his eyes.

"Noooooooo!" Drun screamed.

"Druuuuuuuuuun!" Judy shrieked.

Smith flailed his arms trying to regain his balance as the screams of the women echoed.

"DAAAAADY!" Penny's scream was shorter. 

"John!" Maureen's scream echoed loudly as it was quite drawn out as the professor watched her vanish before his eyes as the girls were falling in different directions.

"Maureen!" John cried.

And that was the last of the Robinson women that was heard for a long time as John fell to his knees, his shoulders slumped, as Drun turned around then faced the direction of the man who was trembling visibly cracked and shocked that it had happened. Smith were staring at his trembling hands as the major roared charged after him. Smith crashed with a yelp then were delivered several more kicks along his side than usual cracking, bruising, and causing more damage than he did as normal.

John regained perspective after a solid ten minutes of Drun beating the older man up. He was quiet, sedate, grim, as he approached the younger man. He came to a pause by Drun's side then put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. Drun turned toward John then stopped what he were doing seeing the vacant look in his eyes. Smith was groaning while laid on his side. It was a quiet non-verbal conversation between them with a silent word of agreement. Drun departed the two mean heading back where they had came.

"Y. . . you. . . ." Smith struggled to speak as he regained his bearings and the professor knelt down to his level. "you should have let him finish me."

John didn't reply at first with a serious demeanor. 

"You won't go that easily." John said. "You will be recovered when I get justice."

Smith could only find himself to cry with blood down his skin as he squeezed his eyes in pain.

"Oh, the pain. . . the pain." Smith whined.

"You will be fed then nursed back to health by Jailer in your cave, _Doctor_ Smith." John said in a tone that brought shame upon the older man. It was said with disdain, lacking in honor, and truly horrible. "When the time comes, you will face the true terror of the Robinsons and you won't know when that happens."

"I don't doubt it." Smith said, defeated as John looked down upon him as the older man shook his head with a broken heart. "I don't doubt that at all."

Robot stood silently behind the two men quite darkly then twirled around looking in the direction of the mirror across. In some other world, in some other time, it was the professor providing company to the wounded older man who weren't crying out of despair, sorrow, or certainty of what laid ahead of him as the professor had one hand planted on the man's shoulder that was trembling because of the whimpering figure. 


	10. A cave with less occupants

Jailer tended to the older man as the days passed by in the small cavern as the man was in and out of it. Jailer fed the older man his rations foregoing to have his own meal while the man gradually recovered. Some nights, Jailer heard the old man cry in his sleep or himself to sleep even as his ribs ached from the beating delivered by the major. It was still quite a shock to the jailer that the Robinsons were all but gone.

He tried meditating to understand the downfall but all that he came back with were that they were gone. It was surreal that the children and the women were gone, there was a void around the men that couldn't be filled that were waiting patiently to get their justified needed justice. Smith's uniform was cleaned and knit back together with new fabric that blended in with the old uniform.

Jailer knew the old man's time on the land of the living was severely limited.

It broke Jailer's heart more than he thought it would have at the facts presented to him about a inmate's future.

Once, Jailer didn't care about what they did to the other or about the older man or to the machine.

He still didn't care about the Robinsons but now he cared for the man who was the brunt of their anger.

And this had happened because Robot went _missing_. 

* * *

Abruptly, two months after the beating, while Smith was napping, the men came into the cavern on Jailer's watch. Jailer grabbed Drun by the shoulder then threw him against the wall with a loud thud. Drun loudly yelped then charged back at Jailer smacking him against the wall as Smith started to awaken quite abruptly rubbing his forehead with his back against the wall and his eyes facing the exit of the cavern.

"Jailer!" Smith cried.

John grabbed a rock then hit Jailer at the back of the head knocking him down.

"How dare you intrude my cavern and attack my friend!" Smith cried as he got up to his feet then charged. 

Drun yanked back his fist then delivered a sharp punch to the man's face knocking him out cold and Smith collapsed with a fall landing to his chest. Drun picked him up by the legs then John grasped him by the arms. They walked over Jailer with care as Robot rested outside watching the events transpire even as they walked on past him. Robot's helm twirled at the events that were happening.

"This wasn't how I planned it would go."

Robot's helm twirled in disappointment and sorrow as he noted.

* * *

John was the first of the men to awake that morning, Don was the second, and Jailer was the third. John set out the meal into the bowls with roughness instead of the gentleness and care that his wife had cared for the material. It was as though nothing of material mattered to him anymore when it came to their purpose. Drun quietly packed the knapsacks with supplies for the long journey that was to be undertaken before Smith was given his dutifully deserved justice. Robot watched in silence as the men had their backs to Smith's cage across from them.

"What do you plan to do, Professor?" Smith asked. "What kind of justice do you have in store for the likes of me?"

"I have the finest intentions with bringing you to justice, Smith." John said.

"I am hungry." Smith whined.

"You'll be eating later." Drun said. "Much, much, much later with the proper circumstance and you will eat while we watch you."

"Poison?" Smith asked. "How horrible."

"No," John said. "We are bringing you out into the open, restrain you, hack off your legs, cook them then make you eat it all."

"No! No! No! Anything but that! LEAVE ME TO THE WILDERNESS, BLINDFOLDED, HANDS TIED,"

"Can't risk that when the Jailer will help you." Drum replied with a shake of his head.

"Then your left arm is next." John resumed as Smith was sobbing with pleas. "Then your other arm."

"Please, burn me alive! BURN ME ALIVE!" Smith plead, loudly. "That has no dignity! Please!" he shook the bars of the cage quite frantically. "Spare me of that fate!" he ceased shaking the bars as his figure was trembling and his eyes were starting to water. "Shoot me, scatter my cooked meat and my bones generous to the wildlife but don't make me eat myself! Pleaase!"

John looked on darkly upon the older man.

"Then we'll leave you there to die." John began to smirk. "Oh, but nothing will eat you to delay that. You will die in the night where the good always die; alone, defeated, and very cold." John added as Smith screamed. "Afterwards we will find your shell in the morning and bring it back here where we will cook your dead body and eat it all."

"NooOOoooo!" Smith wailed as he collapsed in the corner of the cage above them and wept as his shoulders slumped.

"And we'll make sure that your legs and arms smell so delicious that you'll forget that they're even yours." Drun said as Smith cried even louder. "You must have a lot of meat to spare."

"Let's take our showers." John said.

The men left then exited the chamber with Jailer behind them into the natural darkness of the planet they lived on. Robot wheeled forward from the darkness of the cave then bobbed his helm up looking toward the older man covering half of his face with his hand, his mind wrecked with distressing thought, the despair, the sorrow, that he gradually began to hiccup rocking himself back and forth with many sniffles. Robot came over to a panel then slid the leveler back and twirled in the direction of the moving cages. The cages moved in different directions with creaking until they were all but lowered to the ground. Smith was paying no heed to his surrounding shaking his head, his words indistinguishable, burned by sorrow.

"Get up, punk!"

Smith was still whining, naturally. Still reacting to the revelation, to his demise, that not many would take lightly. Not even Robot himself. 

"I SAID, GET UP, PUNK!"

Smith lifted himself up to his feet looking on toward Robot.

"You have lowered the cage."

Robot slipped in the key then the door opened.

"That I have." Robot said.

"Why?" Smith asked, stunned. "You hate me more than anything in this imprisonment."

"I still do." Robot said.

"You must hate me more than the professor for attracting the women to their demise." Smith said, sorrowfully. "I did force the women to fall! I put my hand on--" Smith's voice became distorted by sobs. "'eir ;'oulders without 'sing you--and---"

"I want to be rid of you, PUNK." Robot's voice raised. "I do not want to smell you ever again."

"You . . don't. . want. . to smell me?" Smith asked, confused in his corner of the cage.

"I do not."

Smith stepped forward.

"Do I smell awful?"

"You will smell horrible being cooked."

"If things had been differently. . . We could have been great friends." Smith approached the back end of the cage then grasped at the bars. "True, honored, forever friends. If only the circumstance were right."

"You and I being friends?" Robot laughed, loudly. "Get a load of yourself, Doctor Smith. Machines with Earthlings are not meant to be."

"But yet, you had one with the Robinsons." Smith said. "Don't deny it." Smith lifted his brows as he prodded at the machine's memory of how it was to be around them. "You liked them more than I do."

"Maybe a little." Robot admitted.

"They're gone now." Smith said. "Because of me. Maybe I do deserve their method of justice."

"You do not." Robot said. "You have suffered for thousands of years." Robot lowered his helm with a klunk. "I am pleading for you. Go. Please."

"It's still my fault they're gone," Smith's voice hung with sorrow and started to sound that he were ready to sob, sniffle, and wail as his voice began to crack.

Robot bobbed his helm up.

"Negative, I planned for it!" Robot said. "It is my fault, you neanderthal bubble headed booby!"

"You were the catalyst for it." Smith said. "Not the executioner."

Robot aggressively wheeled around the cage as he pointed a white claw back at the older man.

"You did _everything_ that was necessary to get rid of those interfering in my plans to depart this lousy rotten dark planet!" He pointed a claw back toward the opening of the cave as he wheeled forward then slunk his arms into his chassis. "They are alive, somewhere, trying to reach Alpha Centauri and I can safely assure you they are having a very miserable time in whatever dimension they may be. You are acting as if they are dead. They are not. They're just . . ."

"Lost forever."

"Affirmative."

Smith looked aside.

"Much as I like to experience sweet freedom . . . I cannot go through with it." Robot wheeled forward in front of the doorway of the cage. "I must face the consequences of my actions."

Robot lowered his helm, exasperated, then clacked his claws together.

"You're too good _good_ goody two shoes to disobey, Doctor Smith." Robot sighed. "Looks like I'll have to help you just this once."

"Help me just this once?" Smith asked as the Robot materialized a red carton between his gray claws. "What is that?"

"Fuel." Robot said. "I am equipped with a matter converting unit as per our encounter with Robbie the Robot."

"The machine that tried to replace you!" Smith exclaimed.

"Affirmative." Robot went behind the cage then dumped the contents of the fuel on to Smith's figure then generated a match. "You will not face justice, you will face my justice for each and every day that you have lived annoying me to my wits end, you will face my contempt, my anger, my rage, at being foiled of destroying the Robinsons when I had the chance, Doctor Smith. Time to die in the flames where you belong WITHOUT ANY DIGNITY!"

Smith screamed then struck his back against the door knocking it open.

"Nooo!" Smith howled. "Spare me! Spare me!" He dragged himself away by his hands on the ground and his butt planted on the rocky terrain. "Spare me!"

Robot started the match.

"DESTROY!"

Smith yelped then got up to his feet then fled on foot out of the cavern with Robot close behind him. Robot generated match after match fleeing into the cover of the darkness. Robot chased Smith through the tunnel of trees as the man screamed drawing the attention of the men with Robot's trademark declarations of timely destruction. John was the first of the men to finish drying off then chase after them with Drun and the jailer behind him.

Smith screamed, "Someone, help me! Heeeelp me! HEEEEEELP MEEE!" as he ran on and on with his arms out stretched ahead of him. He ran through the doorway then gradually materialized to the bridge covered in vapor. Robot arrived just behind him as his announcement echoed driving terror in the mind of the older man. Smith turned his attention away once his dark blue eyes flashed open in horror at the machine lighting another match and fled.

"DESTROY DOCTOR ZACHARY SMITH! DESTROY DOCTOR ZACHARY SMITH! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY DOCTOR ZACHARY SMITH!"

Smith tailed along the left side of the bridge as he heard a match lit behind him then he felt warm all over and red, orange, and yellow flames.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Smith fell over the edge of the bridge then flipped over spotting the machine looming over him as his scream echoed ahead of him as he fell like a human fireball into the night engulfed in pain, uncertainty, with no direction in sight. From above, Robot was silent as he watched the man on fire free fall until he couldn't be detected anymore. His mind wave equipment indicated the man was no longer able to be detected or seen as though he had gone to somewhere else far away from him.

Robot yanked his arms back inside of his chassis then wheeled back the way that he had came. His plan had worked with a few minor adjustments and set backs and unexpected downfalls that had been executed by other party. Robot returned to the world that he had inhibited to face three angry men standing in front of the machine. John was incredibly silent with a rage of fury staring at him.

Without much comment, Robot was escorted back to the cavern with John in the lead. Don threw a punch at the machine's side then rubbed his wrist with a, "OW!" while the men elected to ignore the move by the younger man while Robot showed little to no dent from the act. They continued this way until they were back in the cavern with Robot alone in the center of it. There was no sign that a family lived in there, let alone people, with how empty it looked at first glance.

"You are untrust worthy, disloyal, immoral, unhelpful, unfriendly, rude, mean, and disobedient!" John let it all out.

"I was programmed to be that way under your directives." Robot replied.

"I have had ENOUGH of you!" John roared. "In to the cell, Robot. NOW!"

"I will not!" Robot replied.

"You WILL!" John roared.

"You are not the boss of me!" Robot retorted.

"I am THE COMMANDER of this mission." John emphasized.

"Negative, Drun is the commander of this mission, punk." Robot replied.

"John _is_ the commander of this mission, you weaseling deceitful backstabbing tin-plated chrome machine." Drun argued.

"Negative, it is Drun." Robot reported. "It is in my regulation tape. I was not informed who were in charge."

"You WILL do as I say!" John shouted as his temper flared.

"Negative!" Robot's helm bobbed up then twirled as his claws extended out of his chest cackling with electricity as Drun and Jailer were hid behind him.

"Then we have to do it the hard way!" Drun announced then whistled quite loudly. "Jailer!"

Drun and Jailer knocked Robot forward then the machine crashed to his side and the machine rudely laughed in amusement. Drun and the Jailer lifted Robot by each end then set him into one of the cages that were set on the floor across from the base of the cavern. Robot's white claws hung out of the side of the cage. Drun, John, and the Jailer lifted the cage up until he were three feet above the ground. Drun put a key into the cage's panel then turned it locking the cage.

"How long am I in here for?" Robot asked as Drun withdrew the key.

"You are never coming out of there for as long as I stand and breathe." John said then turned toward Drun with a calmer demeanor that masked his fury. "Drun . . . The only freedom and happiness that we can get is by finding a portal."

"Judy. . ." Drun said then smirked then raised his hands somewhat and caged them looking down toward them in the space where she would have inhabited in front of him. "What I would do just to hold her, to hold her hand, to be in possession of her."

"For now, we can't rush this." John said. "In one hundred seventy hours, we will be ready to start this mission."

"One hundred seventy hours," Drun said. "That's seven days."

"We will be different people by then." John said. "You may not even have your trademark stubble."

"This?" Drun asked, frowning, stroking his beard. "That's seditious. That's not a Drun."

"That is someone else, the opposite you, the---" John paused. "The less easy to anger and allow it to control you."

"That is someone." Drun admitted with a sigh as he lowered his hand. "I'll do it when I get to trade places with my opposite then I will get the upper hand, chain him, and shackle him in the same cell that you'll leave your counterpart in."

"And they get to live the fruit of their labor of going into space." John nodded.

"Right what we deserve." Drun grinned.

"Now. . ." John said. "We grieve for what we lost and recollect ourselves." John strolled over toward a spear then picked it up with care by the handle noting of the markings left by fights, left by Maureen's personal spear head in carving her choice of weapon, as he gently picked it up including a knapsack full of supplies. "I'll see you in seven days, Drun."

John walked out of the cavern leaving Drun, Jailer, and Robot behind. Jailer lit up the old torch then set it back into the shoot. Drun stared down upon the machine then went toward a additional knapsack. He packed his meal leaving only enough for Jailer to live off for the next week and strapped it alongside his shoulders. He adjusted the packing on to his back then stared on upon the red creature.

"Nothing personal."

Jailer nodded.

"Just spin around as you are so fond of doing." Drun twirled his finger as his eyes searched for his walking stick among the cavern. "You don't need to replace that stick."

Jailer twirled then paused in front of Drun.

"We're not coming back for the next seven days. . . or any day after day seven." Drun replied as kicked the walking stick upright then watched it hit the threshold ridge. "Save your flammable material."

Jailer twirled.

"Good-bye, Jailer." Drun's voice almost broke. "I won't be back here but if I have to.. . ." he looked down, gripping against his crooked walking stick, gloomy heartbroken and wrecked. He cleared his throat with a emotional tremble squeezing his eyes shut for a second. "I won't stay long." his long sad eyes drifted toward Jailer. "Not after it has so many good memories of _her_ attached."

Drun walked out of the cavern then a loud gust of wind brought the large chamber to total darkness leaving a home without a family, without noise, without positivity, just forgotten memories of a family spending time together that lingered inside, without the romantic well aging warmth that kept lovers together, and lacked the distinctive feeling of life. There was only the faint glowing blue lights from the far off corner of the chamber.

**Author's Note:**

> Initially, I had it as ten thousand years but after a lot more thought, I moved it to thirty thousand years then to sixty thousand years because that's even slower in terms of _very_ slowly aging.


End file.
